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Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk performs his beautiful “continuous music” as part of the Congés Annulés series.
If you only see one concert at this year’s Congés Annulés at the Rotondes, than make sure it is this one. Uk...

The Congés Annulés festival kicks off on the first of the month with a double bill.
Swiss duo Klaus Johann Grobe are the stars of the opening night of the Congés Annulés programme--a series of concerts, films and live performance t...

The city centre streets are packed with performers over the second weekend in August.
Clowns, acrobats, daredevils and all manner of fantastic creatures can be found performing in the streets of the upper city over the second weekend of August. Th...

The Gare Art Festival is an international sculpture symposium that celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
Organised by the Groupe Animation Gare with sculptor Florence Hoffmann, and with the support of the Ville de Luxembourg and the CFL, the ...

John Butler Trio returns for a fourth show at den Atelier to showcase new album “Flesh & Blood”.
Australia's most eclectic roots/jam band have been a hugely popular act at den Atelier, ever since they sprung one of the surprise live sets o...

The Centre d’animation pédagogique et de loisirs (Capel) hosts its annual playtime and adventure day for children.
Featuring a series of activities that are both fun and stimulating, “Kanner In The City” is a great day out for kids....

Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly play on consecutive nights at den Atelier.
Fans of Celtic punk are in for a treat in mid-August when two bands from opposite coasts of the United States roll up at den Atelier.
On Sunday 16 August, Boston&rs...

The Séibühne Ënsber festival features a show by Goran Bregovic.
The annual Séibühne Ënsber open air festival of music, dance, theatre and film hosts a concert by Bosnian composer and musician Goran Bregovic. Probably the most f...

There are still places left at a horse listening & moving making residential summer camp across the border in Germany.
Ideal for boys and girls aged 8 to 13; the horse listening & moving making camp takes place just 1 hour from Luxem...

Outkast’s André Benjamin plays Jimi Hendrix in a new biopic being screened as part of the Summer Follies programme.
Most directors would give up on plans to make a biopic of an iconic musician if the were unable to use any of the music by the a...

Rescue fund relegated

The move comes after the the American ratings agency lowered the credit scores of nine euro area states--most notably demoting France and Austria from the highest AAA score--on Friday. Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are the only euro area states that kept their top notch marks. S&P said it was not impressed by the recent fiscal actions of European leaders.

Europe’s bailout fund, the Luxembourg-based European Financial Stability Facility, is backed by euro zone governments, and supports financially troubled member states such as Greece and Portugal.

The EFSF had previously relied in large part on member states’ AAA-ratings to keep its own financing costs down, as investors demand higher yields when buying lower rated government debt. After Monday’s downgrade, the facility’s lending power may be diminished, since only four euro countries now have AAA status.

However, the EFSF still holds top ratings from the other two major agencies, Fitch and Moody’s.
“The downgrade to 'AA+' by only one credit agency will not reduce EFSF’s lending capacity of 440 billion euro,” Klaus Regling (photo, left), CEO of the EFSF, said in a press statement. The “EFSF has sufficient means to fulfill its commitments under current and potential future adjustment programmes until the ESM becomes operational in July 2012.”

“Neither rating agency has indicated any rating action for EFSF in the immediate future,” Jean-Claude Junker (photo, centre), prime minister of Luxembourg and president of the euro group, said in a press statement. In March European leaders will consider increasing the lending ceiling of the EFSF--and that of the ESM, the agency that will replace in July--to 500 billion euro, Juncker said.

In its press statement, S&P warned it could further downgrade EFSF debt, “if we conclude that the creditworthiness of the EFSF's members will likely be further reduced over the next two years.”

UPDATED: The EFSF sold €1.501 billion in 6-month bills on Tuesday morning, its second short-term debt auction, receiving more than four billion euro in bids, it reported. “The success of today’s auction confirms investors’ confidence in EFSF as a high quality issuer,” Christophe Frankel, CFO and Deputy CEO of the EFSF, said in a press statement.